Not Giving Up
by animelover171
Summary: Haruno Sakura was used to giving up on things for the sake of friendship, even if it was at the cost of her own happiness. But this was the one thing she would not give up on. Sakura x Oikawa Minor Ino bashing
1. How Could You Do This To Me

Konoha High

Sakura's POV

I quietly ran my fingers through my hair as I trudged through the halls of the school to get to the front office. Class has long since been over but I was still here, taking in paperwork for the student council, which I wasn't even a member of, all because of my best friend Yamanaka Ino.

I scoffed at the thought.

Could I even call her that anymore?

I thought back to what exactly it was that brought me here, two years ago.

" _Come on Sakura! I have a date later on and I still have to get ready and finish my homework, can you please do my work from student council and take it to the front office when you're done with it?" The blond girl pleaded but she didn't look as sincere as what she was letting on._

 _"I don't know Ino, I also have homework to do, actually I have twice as much as you do because I'm in advanced classes." I explained to her as I looked down at the thick stack of papers in Ino's hand and compared it to the much smaller one in mine... But that's to be expected because mine is homework, not paperwork for student council._

 _"There you go again Sakura, always making it about you. And of course you just had to bring up you're advanced classes, how could you do this to me?" Ino set both of her hands to her hips and leaned over, as if really looking how_ _I_ _could do such a thing._

 _And of course, I caved._

 _"Alright, I'll do it."_

But that was just the first time she asked me during our first year of high school together. The time after that it was because of her after school job that she couldn't do it. Then is was a cheer meeting, then a football game she had to cheer at, then the talent show... But eventually she had just stopped asking me and started giving me her things.

Every time I tried to do or say something about it to her, she always came at me with the same thing.

 _"How could you do this to me?"_

Like it was some big shocker that I expected her to do her own work for a change.

I let out a sigh as I turned down another hallway to get to where I needed, trying to distract myself from thinking about all the times Ino made me give up something. But as soon as my mind was clear of all that, I saw _him_. Who? Uchiha Sasuke.

Back in our middle school days he and I were pretty close. We grew up together with our other friend Naruto. But when Ino saw just how close we were to each other, she got mad.

 _"Sakura! How could you do this to me!? You know that I like Sasuke-kun! As a matter of fact, I liked him before you did!"_

Lies, Sasuke and I were neighbors and hung out long before Ino and I did.

But when middle school came around Ino threatened to break off our friendship if I didn't back down.

So I did, and I watched as my childhood crush slowly began distancing himself from me because I started to ignore him, pretended to overly fangirl over him, which I knew he hated, and even sat through my own heartbreak and tears as Sasuke asked out Ino in our third year of middle school.

They dated up until second year of high school before Ino had cheated on him with a new guy named Sai.

Sasuke never looked at another girl that way again. He still never talked to me, and became nothing short of a jerk to any girl that tried to approach him. Even now that we're in our third year of high school.

I sighed forlornly as I watched as he and a few of his teammates walked into one of the gyms our school had, decked out in their volleyball uniform, ready to welcome the new first years to the team.

For a brief second I thought he had turned around to look at me but before I could even double check, the doors of the gym had already closed.

I ran my hands through my hair and sighed again.

Our final year of high school and things are still this way between he and I. Great.

~•~

 **3rd POV**

Back in the gymnasium Sasuke stared at the door he had just closed where just on the other side, was his ex best friend, and his ex's best friend. God how he wished things were back to the way they used to be, before it was all, complicated.

"Hey Sasuke! Come check out our first years! Some gutsy little brats I'll tell ya that much!"

Small cries of disagreement ran throughout the gym as Sasuke smirked, all previous thoughts erased.

"First years yelling at their senpai on their very first day? Gutsy indeed."

~•~

Back in the front office Haruno Sakura handed in all of the paperwork the student council needed to sign for the beginning of the school year to their principal. Who in turn, frowned upon seeing her instead of the person whose actual job it is.

"Sakura, from what I understand, Ino is supposed to be doing this work isn't she? It's been her job since the beginning of her first year yet I haven't seen her come in here once in all three years she's been here."

"Technically it's only two years because the third year just started..."

At the principals harsh glare Sakura bit her lip and tried to suppress her laughter.

The principal, Senju Tsunade, had been nothing short of a second mother to her, so Sakura often found herself pushing the woman's buttons and testing her patience on various levels.

Tsunade would never understand why Sakura would give up so much only to receive nothing but dirt to her face.

She still remembers the same exact day her mother had left them, left everyone. That angel was buried in the ground now.

She remembers the devastated tears and cries as she was called to the her very own office during her first year of high school as the police officer who had received the call came to deliver the news that it was a fatal car crash had caused her mothers untimely death.

That officer had been Ino's father himself, and with a few strings pulled here and there, the identity of the poor victim to the tragic car accident was never revealed because the family wanted to keep their privacy. It was because of Ino's father that Sakura was able to come to school like nothing had happened and with out the pitiful looks she would have gotten from other students.

But, it also meant that she didn't have much time to grieve over her mothers death. Her father had left her and her mother years ago that when they tried to contact him, no one answered, that contact information had long since been disconnected.

So Tsunade took it upon herself to help the girl. Not only that but because the orphanage knew about Sakura's dilemma they also offered to help her pay for the apartment she lived in, so with her living arrangements taken care of, Tsunade helped with the providing of the food, the only left was her own school work which Sakura made sure to stay at the top of her class.

Tsunade also made her start taking self defense classes because now that she was on her own, she had to be able to take care of herself should she need to.

She had grown up so fast at such a young age that she hardly had anything left to do for herself anymore. Especially because of that Ino girl pushing off all of her work on to her, which was why Tsunade was about to do what she should have done two years ago.

"Sakura." Tsunade called, causing the pink haired girl to stop rambling about how she was fine doing this for her friend. "I understand that you're okay with it, but I'm not, tell Ino that if she doesn't start doing her own work and start turning it in herself, that she looses her job." Sakura stared wide eyed at her blonde principal.

"What?" Sakura can just imagine what Ino would say... _'How could you do this to me?'_

But for the very first time, as Sakura though about all the things that her supposed "best friend" put her through she thought: _'How could she do this to me?'_


	2. First Glance

Inter-high Preliminaries

3rd POV

Sakura sat anxiously in the stands as she watched Naruto and Sasuke play with other people from their school against a rather troublesome opponent. All around her was other volleyball players from other schools, she noticed that some of then kept looking her way, making her shift uncomfortably in her seat.

'Is there something on my face?' She asked herself as she raised a hand to her cheek but felt nothing.

"Hey isn't she cute?"

"She's more than cute! She's hot! Sexy even!"

"I'd say she's more exotic, just look at her hair and eyes."

"You don't think her hair is naturally that color do you?"

"It has to be, her eyebrows and eyelashes are also pink, who goes to that kind of lengths?"

"Whaaa, you're right!"

Sakura slouched down further in her seat as more similar comments from other teams came around. Her face lit up bright red in embarrassment.

Who else would they be talking about but her? Pink hair? Green eyes? C'mon!

Little did she know, that just a few seats behind her, a man with light brown hair and eyes to match was watching her.

"She's blushing, how cute." He said with a small amused smile.

"Don't even think about it Oikawa." The man next to him said with a twitch of his eye.

"Iwa-chan! I'm not thinking about anything, just that I think she's cute!" Oikawa said trying to defend himself.

"That's thinking." Oikawa pouted at his friend before looking back at the pink haired girl.

She had one of those appearances that made people turn heads. But as he watched the way she hid her face into her sweatshirt, her face the same color as her hair, he realized that she wasn't too big on the attention she was receiving.

Oikawa didn't exactly know why but he found himself wanting to talk to her.

About twenty minutes later the second set of the volleyball game started. Konoha got two service aces before the opposing team received the third serve, but the receive was off and the ball ended up flying right to the stands, right to Sakura.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

First of all, the Konoha team saw who the ball was headed for and watched in terror thinking that it would hit their classmate and friend.

Secondly, Oikawa stood up with every intention of stopping the ball and protecting Sakura.

Thirdly, Sakura had no intention of getting hit so she ducked for cover.

And finally, the ball that Sakura dodged hit Oikawa right in the face.

After taking the ball to the face Oikawa tripped and fell forward, face planting right next to Sakura who sat there gaping at the fine specimen in front of her before crawling over to him.

"Are you okay!?" Sakura asked while lightly shaking his shoulder.

Oikawa blearily blinked his eyes at Sakura before he regained his senses and sat up.

The two of them looked into each other's eyes and blushed. Oikawa nodded before he felt something dripping down his nose and lips, but before her could raise his hand to check Sakura gasped and pulled out a handkerchief out of seemingly nowhere and held it out for him to take.

Their fingers touched when Oikawa grabbed the cloth from Sakura's hands, further making Sakura blush. Oikawa however regained some of his senses and smirked a little at her blush.

The referee blew his whistle, gave Konoha the point because it was the other teams out, before making sure the Oikawa was okay.

The game continued after Sakura and Iwaizumi managed to convince Oikawa to go to the nurse to see if the damage was worse than it let on.

Iwaizumi stayed behind while Sakura insisted that she go with him because she feels she is to partially blame for Oikawa's nose bleed.

~•~

Oikawa watched as the pink haired girl paced back and forth in the nurses office while the nurse went to grab an ice pack for him.

The nurse said that his nose wasn't broken or anything, just that the force of the hit caused him to bleed, and perhaps a small headache.

"Can you stop pacing? You're making me nervous." Oikawa said with a small smile. Sakura pause before looking over at Oikawa before frowning.

When Oikawa saw Sakura move again he sighed thinking that she was going to keep pacing but instead she went to the nearby sink and wet a paper towel and walked back over to him.

Oikawa looked up at the sound of steady foot steps coming his way and looked mildly surprised the Sakura was now standing in front of him.

Sakura bravely used one half to hold Oikawa's faces while she used her other hand with the wet paper towel to clean up the dry blood off of his face.

Oikawa made a startled noise from the back of his throat before reflexively reaching out his hands. One on the hand that was touching his face, the other on her waist.

And that was the exact position that they were in when the nurse came back in the room, ice pack in hand.

"Oh my." Came the startled cry of the old nurse who caught them in a rather intimate position.

Sakura, standing between Oikawa's legs cleaning and holding his face while he held her. But that only lasted for a few short seconds because Sakura jumped away and looked down at her feet, her hair hiding her face.

She never noticed the small frown that adorned Oikawa's face after she moved away. Her warmth and scent still lingering in the air around him.

"Now, now, there's no need to get all shy dear, a little skinship never hurt a relationship. Now take this ice pack, there are some pain killers on the counter there, make sure to take it easy." The old woman left after handing Sakura the ice pack.

Sakura stared from the cold package in her hand to the door then back again before sighing. She looked back up to see Oikawa smiling, it was an innocent, dorky smile that Naruto often wore. It was adorable.

Sakura again walked up to him and held the small ice pack to his face and his hands again went to where they were before. She has no idea when this burst of confidence came from but she figured this might be the only time she were to ever see this man any way, so why not?

Only that's not how it happened.

"You know, I never did get your name? Mine is Oikawa Tooru."

Sakura found herself wanting to hit her because it was true, they never even introduced themselves, but she also couldn't help but want to laugh about it as well.

"Haruno Sakura." Oikawa reached up and tugged at a lock of her hair.

"It suits you."

"Really? I think it's a bit unimaginative."

"Nah! A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Sakura gave a small laugh.

"My mother used to say the same thing."

"She's a smart woman then!"

"She was."

Oikawa notice how she spoke of her mom in past tense but didn't dare say anything.

Sakura though that if she ever spoke about her mom again that it'd be too painful, but she actually felt good talking about it.

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, what are you doing next weekend?" Sakura pondered for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.

"Nothing I think. Maybe just homework if my teacher gives me any. Why?"

Oikawa removed Sakura's hand and the ice pack from his face.

"Do you want to go out?" Sakura's eyes widened with surprise.

"You mean like a date?"

"Only if you want it to be."

Sakura nodded and soon they were both smiling like idiots.

~•~

After all the matched had ended for that day, Oikawa and Sakura exchanged phone numbers and emails to talk to each other later.

Sakura would admit though, she was as excited as she was nervous. He had been a random stranger who had turned into a potential boyfriend at the end of the day. But that's how things go right? You can have friends or lovers until you meets strangers.

A whole week later Konoha had lost to a team called Karasuno, who they in turn lost to Seijou/Aobajousai, who also lost to Shiratorizawa in the finals.

It was also in that same week that Ino had called Sakura. She was beyond furious that Sakura wasn't there after school to take Ino's papers and had to do it all by herself.

Even more furious when Sakura had told her that it's what Tsunade had wanted because it apparently made her look lazy, and as always, Ino ended the conversation with: "How could you do this to me." And promptly hung up the phone.

But Sakura wouldn't dwell on it, after all, she had a date to get ready for.

She looked down at her phone and read Oikawa's text message.

 _I'll be there at seven! Dress casual!_

He even gave her a dress code, how sweet!


	3. Date Night

Sakura's House

3rd POV

Sakura ran about in her house trying to finish getting ready. Oikawa would there any minute now and she, for the love of God, cannot find her left shoe or her wallet!

She looked through her closet, under her bed, in her drawers, in her backpack, her purse, and she still couldn't find either one.

Another five minutes later she heard a knock on her door.

Sakura contemplated whether or not she should answer the door even though she wasn't ready, but she answered it anyway.

"Are you ready to go Sakura-chan?"

Sakura stared guiltily at Oikawa, who was certainly dressed to impress.

He had dark blue jeans and a black v-neck shirt under a dark grey button up shirt, left unbuttoned. When the wind blew Sakura caught a whiff of his cologne and damn near sighed.

Oikawa, seeing the guilty look on her face immediately thought the worst and thought that maybe she had forgotten or wanted to cancel.

"Something wrong?"

"Well..." Sakura dragged out the word and tried to look everywhere but at him, which was proving to be difficult because she _wanted_ to look at him. So she just finally came out and said it, no matter how embarrassing it was. "I can't find my left shoe."

Oikawa raised and eyebrow and looked down only to see one shoe on her feet. He wanted to laugh at the pouty look on her face but tried to hold it in for her sake. But when he got a closer look at her feet he bursts out laughing.

"S-Sakura-chan, that _is_ your left shoe, your missing your right one!"

Sakura looked down and to her utter embarrassment, he was right. Sakura took the collar of her shirt and pulled it up and over her face to hide how red it was and walked away from Oikawa and back into her house.

"Do you want help finding it?" Sakura gave a small nod.

"You didn't take your shoes off in the living room did you?"

"No."

"So they're in your room then?"

"Most likely. I usually leave them by the door but I was kind of lazy last night and just kicked them off in my room." Oikawa laughed.

Five minutes later Oikawa found her shoe behind her door.

After putting on her shoe the two of them walked down the three flights of stairs of her apartment building to get to their much anticipated date.

While Sakura was walking a few steps ahead of him he took the time to look her over.

She had on a pair of light blue skinny jeans, red converse, and a white v-neck. Although it was plain, Oikawa couldn't help but admire it on her.

The jeans were high waisted a gave the illusion that her legs were longer than what they were. Her shirt was tight a form fitted one that showed off her curves. Oikawa couldn't help but admire her.

"So where are we going?" Sakura asked as turned around and kept walking backwards.

Oikawa swallowed thickly as he caught a glimpse of the top of Sakura's breast. It took a moment for her question to process but once it did a small crossed his face as excitement filled his being before he took one of her hands and ran off down the street to where he had planned on taking them.

"You'll see!"

About ten minutes of straight running Sakura and Oikawa found themselves staring at and assortment of bright flashing lights, the smell of popcorn and cheesy children's music. They were at a carnival.

An excited, happy laugh bubbled out of Sakura's lips as she did a full 360 degree turn to look at everything, a child like expression on her face.

"Do you like it? Cause if not we can go somewhere else?" Oikawa asked but judging but the look on her face she was pretty happy about being at the carnival.

"Are you kidding me? I haven't been here in years! This is amazing!"

"Well I didn't want to do some typical kind of first date like the movies or a picnic." Sakura smiled from how much thought he put into this.

Soon they both heard horrified screams and looked up to see a roller coaster that was going through a double loop while twisting.

"C'mon! Let's go ride that one first!" Oikawa tried not to show his surprise when Sakura chose to go on that particular roller coaster first but laughed anyway when she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the line.

Five minutes later they were both screaming their lungs off.

"Let go of the bar, put your hands in the air! It's so much more fun!" Both of their hands were soon in the air, still screaming at the very front of the ride.

Afterward they went on splash mountain where you sit in a wooden log and go down a hill with water till it makes a big splash at the end.

Then it was the space ride where you in an alien spaceship and press your back against the cushioned wall and the ride spins around so fast to can hardly even move. On this particular ride they were positioned a few feet away from each other and tried to grab each other's hands with rather great success as their fingers intertwined.

They took a break after that ride to eat greasy carnival foods and candy. They took easy rides at first to let the food settle like the carousel, magic carpet, house of mirrors and the haunted house.

Then they went on more fun rides like the 50 foot drop, the hammer, and the fireball.

Three hours later the park was nearing closing time and Oikawa had the perfect idea to end the date.

"I know I said I chose this place because I didn't want to do the normal cheesy stuff, but we have to end it on the Ferris Wheel." Sakura laughed before agreeing as the two made their war to the big circular ride before getting in one of the cars.

From the top they could see all the people walking towards the exit as the park was ten minutes from closing.

"They look like little ants!" Sakura said while pointing to some of the people still scattered around. Oikawa laughed along with her.

Sakura pouted in disappointment when the ride started its descent.

"What's wrong Sakura-chan?"

"It's over already." She said with a tinge of sadness.

"My friend always told me never be sad that somethings over, be happy that it happened instead." Sakura gave a nostalgic smile before humming in agreement.

After getting off the two walked toward the exit before loud cracks sounded throughout the air and bright colors flashing above them.

Of course the night wouldn't have been completed without fire works. Sakura stared at the colors in wonder while Oikawa took a picture of her admiring the lit up sky.

They had taken several pictures off both of their phones all throughout the night to remember it.

After the fireworks were over Oikawa walked Sakura home where he kissed her forehead, because you aren't supposed to kiss on the lips on the first date, he knew that, and the both promised to text each other the next day.

As soon as the door closed behind Sakura she watched as he went down the stairs and the the street, light posts guiding his way through the dark sky causing Sakura to realize just how late it was.

She got a little worried for Oikawa and decided to text him now instead of the next day.

"Be careful on the way home. Let me know when you get there." -Sakura

Well, there was no turning back now. She hit send and waited, not even a minute later, and a reply saying how cute she was when she was worried and that he'd be fine. Another ten minutes later another text came saying that he was home and nothing had happened.

Now with her mind at ease she texted him good night and promptly fell asleep, still in her jeans with the scent of carnival food on her, she slept with a happy smile on her face.


	4. Friends? Friends

**Seijou/Aobajousai high school**

 **3rd Person POV**

"You should have seen it Iwa-chan! The way she laughed and ran around all excited trying to get through all the rides before the carnival closed! And the way she glowed when she looked up at the fireworks in the sky! She was so pretty! Here look!" Oikawa shoved his phone in Iwaizumi's face to show him a picture of Sakura.

Ever since Oikawa had gotten to school the following Monday after his date with Sakura he couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was.

Iwaizumi was seriously getting tired of hearing about it every two seconds. He was so tempted to hit Oikawa but then he remembered the last relationship he had back in middle school when the girl (he didn't bother to remember her name) had only used Oikawa because he was popular and it was no secret the his family had a bit of money.

They weren't rich or anything. It's just that his mom worked in the hospital and his dad was a lawyer, so they made good money. And because they were never really around for most of the years while Oikawa was growing up, they tried to give him everything they could to let him now how much they loved him.

And the girl had done everything to get as much out of Oikawa as she could till eventually... She broke up with him, because she had almost everything she had wanted. So once she was done using him, she tossed him to the curb.

Oikawa didn't fool around with other girls like most guys would have after such a devastating break up. Instead he swore off girls almost entirely, but that was during middle school.

Once he entered high school he got even more popular. Girls would confess their love for him and shower him with their affection that eventually he realized that not every girl was the same. But that didn't mean that some of the cracks left behind were all gone.

He hasn't really gotten into anything serious since that girl from so long ago other than a few one time dates that never went beyond just that first date. Until now anyway.

And as Oikawa showed him the picture on his phone of the familiar pink haired girl that was at the volleyball tournament, looking up at the fireworks that reflected off of her eyes and her skin with such a child like happiness that Oikawa often showed himself, he realized that maybe, just maybe, this girl can fill in the cracks that the last one left behind.

"What's with that look Iwa-chan? I mean I know Sakura's pretty and all but why'd you have to get that far away look in your eyes?" Iwaizumi didn't know if he should laugh or be irritated at how protective and jealous he sounded.

"It's not that dumbass. I was just thinking about the last relationship you bad back in middle school." Oikawa pondered for a few seconds before snapping his fingers won't an 'ah ha'.

"You mean with Yanagi?"

So that was her name...

"Yeah her."

"What about her?" Iwaizumi pointed to picture of Sakura.

"You've obviously upgraded on many levels."

"Awe, Iwa-chan! You care!"

"Idiot."

Neither one of them could stop the grins from forming on their faces.

 **Konoha High School**

Sakura practically skipped down the hallway to get to her next class as she couldn't help but remember everything that happened on her date with Oikawa. Not even the stares or whispers behind her back could bother her.

"Doesn't Haruno-chan seem awfully happy to you?" She heard one whisper.

"She does, I haven't seen her smile like that since middle school." Another one.

"She looks pretty when she smiles. Not that she wasn't already gorgeous before, but now she seems more approachable." And another one. Eventually she started replying to the comments in her head.

"That's for damn sure. Maybe I should go talk to her."

 _No, don't_.

"And face the wrath of her boyfriend?"

 _Yeah damnit... Wait what?_

"What! She has a boyfriend? How do you know?"

 _Yeah, not that he's my boyfriend yet, but still._

"Please, a girl can be happy whenever she wants to be, but the only thing that can put a look like that on a girls face is a boyfriend."

 _That's true._

"Are you sure?"

 _Yup_.

"Yes, obviously you've never been in love before."

 _Probably not._

"Whatever you say."

 _Ohh, someone's getting feisty_.

Comments and conversations similar to this one had been going on all day at school, and this was coming from just random strangers, so of course the people she was more close to noticed. They just didn't know how to bring it up.

Except for one person who didn't care how rude or hurtful she sounded by asking.

"Why the fuck are you smiling?" Ino asked while looking at Sakura with a glare. Sakura frowned at her.

"Nothing really, it's just more stress free when I don't have a lazy, good for nothing, irritating person giving me all her work to do while she does absolutely nothing productive." Ino's jaw dropped to the floor while a few others looked on with rapt attention. Waiting to see the the schools supposed most popular girl and queen bee of the school would react.

Only she didn't do much, just open and close her mouth, trying to formulate a sentence, but the only thing that came out were strangled noises.

"Maybe if you had actually done your Japanese homework you would have more adjectives in your lacking vocabulary to formulate a sentence." Sakura jabbed even more. A couple of gasps were heard throughout the class room.

"Actually, what I would really like to know is what you're doing in this class? Class 5-C is for advanced students. It may be independent study right now, but there are some of us who actually like to do our own work so we pass the tests when the come. Unlike you who is in class 1-C, the lowest where all you have to do is just easy homework." Sakura was saying all this while she started to slowly walk up to her, and whispered: "you had one job, don't interrupt ours." And walked back to her seat.

Sakura sat down and pulled out her work before she started to feel guilty. She probably could have gone about it a different way but all of this was being bottled up inside her and was bound to come out eventually. There was still more she wanted to say, but chose not to say them for the moment.

Ino's face was bright red when she ran out into the hallway, probably to the bathroom till she calmed down or back to her classroom.

At the end of the day Sakura received a text message from Oikawa saying that practice was cancelled because the coaches had some kind of meeting to attend with the other teachers so the courts would be locked up, leaving no place for practice. He asked her if she wanted to go out.

With the bad day Sakura had had earlier, she agreed, hoping that this would make up for it.

But as she started walking out she saw something that made her blood boil. Ino was yet again giving away her work to someone else. Sakura recognized the poor girl to be Hyuuga Hinata, a girl that would never say no.

Sakura waited until Ino had left the Hyuuga standing alone in the hallway before she walked over and took the paperwork right out of her hands and started walking over to the trash can.

"H-Haruno-san, what are you doing?" Squeaked out the shy girl with a horrified look on her face.

"You're right, I have a better idea." Sakura said before going into Tsunade's office where said woman glared at the pinkette that had walked into her office with Ino's work yet again.

"Sakura, don't tell me you're doing her work again?!"

"No, she made Hyuuga-san do it, but I grabbed them before she could leave and have to do it." Tsunade became so furious that she snapped her pen in half, not even noticing the black ink that was now dripping down her fingers.

"That girl! That's it, she's fired from her position." Tsunade took the stack of papers from Sakura before looking through one of her filing cabinets.

"Whose job is it going to be now?"

"During your guys' first year Ino beat another girl running for the same position, I'll give it to her."

Sakura thought back to the red haired girl who used to be a Sasuke fan girl till she started dating her best friend from her childhood, Suigetsu.

Karin was her name.

Sakura nodded, satisfied, before meeting the Hyuuga right where she left her.

"Don't let Ino tell you what to do, she's too concerned about her reputation to do much of anything. Stay strong Hyuuga-chan."

"W-why did you help me?" The girl looked at Sakura with something akin to gratefulness, a small pink blush on her cheeks.

"Because, we're friends." Sakura answered with ease, a small smile on her face.

"F-friends? Really?"

"We've known each other since kindergarten, I think that classifies us as more than acquaintances and classmates don't you think?" Hinata shyly nodded, but the smile of pure happiness on her face let Sakura know that she was actually quite excited at the new term.

The two exchanged contacts before parting ways.

Sakura later met Oikawa at a nearby park and actually had a good time, talking and getting to know each other more while eating ice cream and playing around at the park like children.

~•~

So this was more of an inside look on their personal lives. Hope you all like it, thanks for the reviews! Keep them coming!


	5. Bonds

3rd Person POV

The following day Tsunade had called Ino into her office and had taken away her keys to the student council office and had told her that she was no longer needed, that someone who could handle the job would be taking her place.

"But I can handle it!" She argued. Tsunade tried to explain in way that wouldn't hurt the useless blonde in front of her.

"You're head cheerleader and you have an after school job at your families flower shop, with both of those taking up your time as well as your regular school work it's no wonder it's too much for you. Therefore, Uzumaki Karin will be talking your place as student council president."

"Karin? The redhead that I beat in the initial elections?"

"The one and only."

Shortly afterwards Ino had sought out the Hyuuga heiress to interrogate her. Which was why Ino was once again in Sakura's advanced class which she shared with Hinata.

"Why do you care that you lost the position anyway? You didn't actually do anything, so how could you lose something you never really had to begin with?"

Sakura said, coming to the defense of Hinata.

"I've had just about enough out of you Haruno!" Ino turned her glare from Hinata to Sakura.

"And everyone else has had enough of you Yamanaka. You're so... Annoying." Ino gasped as everyone else looked on with dropped jaws.

Everybody had known that that was Uchiha Sasuke's favorite word to use when it comes to his fan girls. It had been his favorite especially against Ino after the break up. And when Sasuke, who hardly shows emotion, if at all, insults you, it makes you feel so beneath him that you almost want you hide yourself away forever. So needless to say, Ino had pounced on Sakura, tackling them both to the floor.

~•~

An hour later both girls found themselves sitting in front of the Principal, her eyebrow twitching every two seconds.

"Would either of you girls care to explain, what happened or why it happened."

"Ino happened because she's fucking Ino."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like Pig. No further explanation needed."

"Why you Billboard Brow!"

Tsunade watched as both girls got in each other's faces, sparks flying between them. Within seconds both girls were throwing insults at each other and trying to talk over the other, it almost became a yelling contest until Tsunade stepped in.

"That's enough! You both act like children but claim to be mature young adults, I don't see it! Since neither of you can seem to tell me why, you'll both write it out for me in an essay." Both girls groaned. "Don't fucking whine about it, school ends in about thirty minutes. You two are to stay in the front office until school is over. You will also be receiving three days of after school detention starting today, one hour every day." Ino gaped at Tsunade while Sakura looked just irritated, arms crossed over her chest.

"But today's Wednesday! That means I'll be here after school for Friday too!?" Ino cried.

"Is there a problem with that Ms. Yamanaka?" Tsunade asked, almost daring her to say something about it, and the worst part is? She did.

"Of course there's something wrong with it! I have a date on Friday!" Ino thought for another second, probably trying to think of another excuse. "And I have to work tomorrow." Yup.

"Ms. Yamanaka, I do not care for your frivolous activities. You will be here on Friday. And as for your job, I do believe that a phone call home with allow your parents to let you come in later, perhaps work the night shift?" Ino's already natural pale skin almost seemed to turn as white as chalk.

She probably would miss another date, or maybe it's her beauty sleep she'd be missing out on.

"And if you plan on skipping out, you'll just have to do more next week." And that was when Ino had passed out.

Sakura stared at the blonde who was passed out on the chair sitting next to her and nudged it with her foot, trying to gauge if she was really out cold.

"Sakura," she looked up to Tsunade's frowning face. "you didn't use any of the martial arts that was taught to you, you're still taking those classes aren't you? You didn't forget how to defend yourself did you?" Sakura jutted her lips out into a small pout.

"No I didn't forget. I just felt that it wasn't necessary. Ino's not that strong of a girl. I mean she has some muscles from being a cheerleader and all, but she's still pretty scrawny. I wasn't really in any danger so all I had to do was block any hit that came my way." Tsunade almost seemed to smirk.

"So they teach you discipline too." She mocked the pink haired girl.

"C'mon, it's not really a bad thing is it?" She defended with a small pink blush on her cheek bones.

Another ten minutes of teasing Sakura, Ino had woken up and school was over. Both girls then proceeded to help the custodians clean the classrooms. To avoid further destruction, one girl got the top floor, the other got the bottom.

Sakura had made it a point to text Oikawa, who she was supposed to meet after his volleyball practice, that she'd be late because she had detention, and still had homework to do before she went out with him. They hadn't gone on another 'official' date since the carnival other than hanging out and spending some time together.

Oikawa had said it was fine and that practice would probably run late that day anyway.

A little over an hour later Sakura was finally done. She had bid the custodian 'goodbye' and had, surprisingly, found Hinata waiting at the front gates of the school for her. When asked why Hinata had claimed she felt partially responsible for what happened.

Sakura brushed off her concerns, saying it was bound to happen eventually and was by no means, her fault.

Both girls had walked out and away of the schools building and into the shopping district of the city.

They were talking and laughing and strengthening their relationship to what some would consider best friends.

Roughly twenty minutes later of window shopping Sakura had saw a familiar face, and no, it wasn't Oikawa, it was his best friend Iwaizumi.

When he saw her he seemed just as surprised as she was at seeing him.

"Sakura-san."

"Iwaizumi-san."

Oikawa had talked to Sakura about his best friend one of the days they had hung out together, and of course also telling Iwaizumi all about Sakura. It was because of this that Sakura felt more comfortable with Iwaizumi than just strangers and started up a small conversation.

"Did practice end already?" Iwaizumi placed one hand to his hip while holding a black plastic bag in the other.

"It probably ended not too long ago but I left a bit earlier than the others because my volleyball shoes ripped at the sol. So I came to buy new ones." Sakura hummed in understanding.

"This a friend of yours?" Iwaizumi asked causing Sakura to let out a small gasp at her own rudeness of not introducing her new best friend.

"Iwaizumi, this is Hyuuga Hinata, my best friend." Hinata blushed when she realized both were looking at her. She gave a small bow to Iwaizumi.

"Pleasure to meet you Iwaizumi-san."

"The pleasure is all mine Hinata-san." Sakura immediately took notice of both of their reddening cheeks and found herself sporting a shit eating grin.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura's head spun so fast as she heard Oikawa's excited voice. He tackled her into a hug, spinning her around in a full circle before just holding her a few inches above the ground.

"How was your day doll?" Oikawa asked against Sakura's neck causing her to shiver.

"Good." Sakura replied also against his neck, laughing when he shivered just as she did.

Once Sakura's feet were planted on the ground, arms still around his neck and his around her waist. "What about yours? How was practice?" Both engaged in a small conversation until Iwaizumi cleared his throat.

"Iwa-chan!" Sakura and Hinata laughed at the irritated look that crossed on Iwaizumi's face. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to buy new shoes, remember?" Iwaizumi said as he held up the plastic bag. "I was on my way home when I ran into Sakura-san and her friend Hinata-san." Oikawa nodded his head in understanding.

"Listen, Sakura and I were planning on going to the arcade for about an hour or two cause it's too late to really do anything else, especially on a school night. Do you guys want to come with us." Oikawa asked.

Hinata and Iwaizumi both looked at each other before a small blush appeared again on both of their faces.

"S-sure."

"Yeah."

With a skip in her step and a gleam in her eye Sakura wrapped one arm around Oikawa's waist and he wrapped one around her neck as the both of them walked a good enough distance away from the other two who walked slowly side by side.

"So you noticed it too huh?" Sakura told Oikawa as she sneaked a look behind her to watch Iwaizumi and Hinata talking amongst each other.

Oikawa hummed in agreement.

"Maybe someday soon we'll be able to go on a double date." Sakura giggled before agreeing that it would be fun.

And now they just had to wait.


End file.
